"'This Book is Free, the Contributors are Not': The Penal Press in Canada" is a new digital exhibition launched today by the Criminology and Sociolegal Studies Library.
Curated by CrimSL Librarian Danielle Van Wagner, the exhibition draws upon the library's extensive collection of the penal press — newsletters and publications authored, printed, and distributed by individuals incarcerated within Canada’s prisons and penitentiaries.
With a repository comprising over 580 issues from thirty different titles, the CrimSL Library's collection is one of the largest and most expansive in Canada.
"'This Book is Free, the Contributors are Not'" embraces an intersectional approach, centred on elevating diverse voices and delving into lesser-known narratives. Through personalizing first-hand accounts, this exhibition delves into:
- Prison Justice Day
- Indigenous Activism
- Women and the Penal Press
- 'Free' Press and Censorship, and
- Inside Stories.
"This exhibition showcases, for the first time, our extensive collection of penal press publications, spanning seven provinces and four decades, from 1953 to 1993. These primary sources offer a valuable and rare chronicle of the lived carceral experience in Canada," says Van Wagner.
"At least one image or quote is taken from publications of each of the 30 institutions in our collection, so the exhibition is quite comprehensive," says Van Wagner. "While I was cataloguing the titles, I went through every issue and made notes of interesting articles, images and covers, and allowed what I was finding to speak to the themes and categories of the exhibition."
The exhibition makes CrimSL's remarkable collection accessible 24/7 to the community at CrimSL, the University of Toronto, and all researchers interested in penal reform and the lived experience of incarceration.
"'This Book is Free, the Contributors are Not': The Penal Press in Canada" does not shy away from hard or uncomfortable truths and aims to amplify the voices of prisoners by allowing them to tell their own stories.
Visit the exhibition "'This Book is Free, the Contributors are Not': The Penal Press in Canada.